We’ve come a long way since the early 80s and Mazda’s Great Little Car: One look at Mazda’s newly-refreshed 3 makes that overly abundant. And progress—in this case at least—is no bad thing.
The new Mazda3 sedan now offers either FWD or AWD, and the list of standard features reads a bit like a Dicken’s novel. Not only that, but Mazda will happily sell you either a sedan or a hatchback variant of the 3, one of the last automakers willing to offer their compact car in more than one body style.
We tested a 2019 Mazda3 sedan with AWD and the Premium package, good for 25 city and 33 highway mileage. The 2019 Mazda3 sedan Premium AWD starts at $27,900, with our tester coming in at $30,930 with that snazzy red paint.
These are absolutely phenomenal little cars.
I am definitely a fan of the sedan looks, the hatch... not so much.
T.J.
MegaDork
6/17/19 12:00 p.m.
I like how the hatches look, but can’t imagine the blind spot that comes with that C pillar and no rear side windows.
I've been impressed with Mazda and the current and outgoing generations of the 3 and 6. I've had them as rentals a few times and ride, interior quality, etc were all great.
Off-topic but not really. Why do manufacturers list things that are industry standards these days as premium options? I.e. power windows, A/C, radio, a key to start the car, etc.
DirtyBird222 said:
Off-topic but not really. Why do manufacturers list things that are industry standards these days as premium options? I.e. power windows, A/C, radio, a key to start the car, etc.
Because if they actually listed the premium features, people would wonder why they are paying $3500 for some fancy upgraded headlights and an extra USB port.
Kreb
UberDork
6/17/19 3:37 p.m.
vehicle dynamics aside, I'm glad to see the styling moving away from the oregami/transformer look to more organic forms. Mazda never went crazy that way like Nissan/Toyota, but that look's not wearing so well IMO.
Sat in and test drove some of these: The rear view from the hatch is pretty bad. The window is very undersized and the c pillar is huge. You will want to be very attentive to your side mirrors in this car, because you aren't seeing much in the rear view. The back up camera is pretty much essential in this car.
_
HalfDork
6/17/19 5:20 p.m.
Can we get an AWD rallycross test? I really wanna see this go head to head with say... a cross trek.
The blogs keep saying the ride is still great with the twist beam rear, but I want a review of that ride from the back seat. I take a lot of Lyft rides and many of the cars with twist beams have a noticeable choppiness to the ride compared to multi link. Would get me sick on a very long ride I suspect.
T.J.
MegaDork
6/17/19 11:23 p.m.
Do any new cars allow you to use the backup camera during normal driving as a rear view mirror?
Both of my vehicles with back up cameras only allow them to be on when in reverse or not moving.
No, some of the Honda's have side view cameras that show up on the infotainment screen when you're using a turn signal which I think is cool.
It's nothing that looping the reverse signal wire and throwing it on a switch couldn't fix though.
I bought a couple of Amazon cheap-o reverse cameras and threw them on our chumpcar for better visibility. One dead center and one simulating the right side mirror and the screens set slightly off center of the driver.
Only way to get a stick in one of these is to get a loaded FWD hatch, and it's around $28k. That makes me sad.
That said, Mazda will sell a ton of these. The sedan looks especially great!
Tony Sestito said:
Only way to get a stick in one of these is to get a loaded FWD hatch, and it's around $28k. That makes me sad.
That said, Mazda will sell a ton of these. The sedan looks especially great!
Yep, if I was going to be looking for a "boring," commuter car, I'd probably just get myself prepared to buy a loaded wagon.
